And charles lederer



(No Model.)

, R. M. SKILES &,C. LEDERER.

' BALL BEARING FOB. SCALES.

No. 594,492. Patented Nov. 30, 1897.

Fig.1.

Fig-5 I 72 Z/GI'L r3;

NITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

ROBERT M. SKILES, or ATLANTIC, IOWA, AND CHARLES LEDERER, OF NEW YORK,N. Y.

BALL-BEARING FOR SCALES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 594,492, dated November30, 1897.

Application filed October 14, 1896. Serial No. 608,822. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, ROBERT M. SKILEs, residing at Atlantic, in thecounty of Cass and State of Iowa, and CHARLES LEDERER, residing at NewYork, in the county of New York and State of New York, citizens of theUnited States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBall-Bearings for Scales; and we do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of .the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

Our invention relates to improvements in scales used in stores as wellas those upon farms-in fact, scales of all kinds and for all purposes,from the most delicate scales in use by chemists and druggists to scalesused by farmers, stock-raisers, and railroads; and the objects of ourinvention and improvement are, first, to provide an automatic self-adjusting bearing affording facilities for the proper adjustment of theoscillating platform and lever, and, second, to obviate the objectionsheretofore made to the knife-edge bearings, which, when blunted by wearand friction thereon, render scales inaccuratefor the purposes for whichthey were intended-- namely,-accurate weighing. We attain these objectsby the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure 1 is a view showing the platform in longitudinal section, thebearing secured thereto,the knife, and the tilting lever. Fig. 2 is aview illustrating the platform in section, with an oblong cup securedthereto, the knife, and the tilting lever. Fig. 3 is a view incross-section on the line a a of Fig. 2; and Fig. l is a view showingthe platform with our improved bearings, the plat-form and tilting leverin section, the semispherical or nearly semispherical concave cups, andthe sphere or ball located within the cups.

In all scales used for store, farm, and stock purposes the platformrests on knife-edge bearings,as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings,and check-rods are used to prevent the bearings from slipping, except insmall counter-scales and one single manufacture of scales,where anoblong cup is employed,which fits over the knife, as illustrated in Fig.2 of;

the drawings. The knife in all casesis a part of the tilting lever thatsecures the registration of the weight. After comparatively little useall the knives out into the bearings secured to the platforms and add tothe friction, causing considerable deflection in weighing. These knivesare made of very fine steel and are highly tempered and hardened afteradjustment to the lever bearing. Except in some cases the scales aremade with adjustable knives.

Check-rods are used in all scales, except in small scales and in scalesin which the oblong cup is employed to keep the knife in place. Knivesinordinary usefor example, in fourton scalesareabout three inches long,one inch wide,and three-quarters of an inch thick.

If the upper bearings are not carefully adjusted in the under sidethereof, there will be a cut diagonal of the bearing, and so impor--tantis this adjustment and so desirable is it that this diagonal out benot made that some manufacturers send out with their scalesillustrations and diagrams showing these diagonal cuts as they appearupon the oblong cupshaped bearings after the scales have been used for atime.

This invention, our improvement, obviates all these defects anddecreases the expense of manufacturing scales and does away with thenecessity of experts in farming and rural districts by the use of aball-bearing such as We have shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

The ball-bearing consists of one sphere or ball located between twoconcave cups semispherical or nearly semispherical on their innersurfaces. These concave cups are attached to the platforms and leversin-any ordinary manner, so as to be removable therefrom, as by means ofscrews, bolts, or they may be made integral with the platforms andlevers.

The result of our improvement is that the bearings are self-adjusting,invariably find their center, and there is the least possible frictiondeveloped by the oscillation of the platforms and levers.

The ball-bearings are designed to take the place of the knife and itsbearing and at the same time obviate the necessity of using the Icheck-rods above described.

The numeral 1 in Fig. 1 of the drawings represents the platform, 2 thebearing secured to the platform on the underside thereof, upon which theknife 8 bears, and 4 refers to the tilting lever, to which the knife issecured in the ordinary manner, as hereinbefore described.

The numeral 5 of the drawings represents the platform, and 6 the oblongconcave cup or bearing secured to the platform in which the knife restsand upon the edge of which the inner surface of the cup impinges. Thisform of scale-bearing is old, and it is objectionable for the reasonthat the sharp cutting edge of the knife cuts, wears, and indents theinner surface of the cup 6, thereby rendering the scales inaccurate forthe purposes of weighing. Furthermore,the edge of the knife 7 becomesblunted by friction upon the inner surface of the oblong concave cup (3from the constant oscillation of the platform and lever, whereby thescales become inaccurate, the platform and lever ceasing to delicatelyturn or oscillate upon the knife-edge as once they did when firstbrought into use. This blunting of the knife-edge causes inaccuracy inweighing and necessitates the removal of the knife from the oblongconcave cup, and often its removal from the lever in which the knife isrigidly secured, in order that its edge may again be retempered andrehardened. Moreover, the oblong concave cup 6, too, often requires tobe removed and a new cup put in its place because of the cut orindentation made therein by the cutting edge of the knife 7.

Our principal object is to overcome these objections, inconveniences,and annoyances, as well as the expense of using costly steel bearingsand parts, and the expense, too, attending the retempering the bluntedknife-edge, also the removal of the oblong concave cup and substitutinga new one in its place.

\Ve do away entirely with the knife and with the oblong concave cup, andin its place and in lieu of the knife we place the semispherical ornearlysemispherical concave cup A upon the under side of the platform Band a similar semispherical or nearly semispherical concave cup 0 uponthe upper side of the tilting leverD, which are screwed, bolted, orotherwise attached thereto in order that they (the said concave cups)may be separable or removable from the said platform and lever,sufficient room or space being left between the cups to permit theplatform and lever to oscillate.

The cups A and C may be made integral with the platform B and tiltinglever D, respectively. The letter E represents the sphere or ball, ofiron or of any suitable metal or material, but preferably it is made ofsteel, and it is somewhat smaller than the concave cups A and O on theirinterior surfaces and runs or moves about loosely within the concavityof the two cups and when placed in position in the cups form theself-adjusting automatic bearings upon which the platform and tiltinglever always accurately turn or oscillate.

Such a bearing is not open to the objections incident to the cutting ofthe knife-edge into the inner surface of the oblong concave cup, asshown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. Neither are purchasers of our scalessubjected to the expense, annoyances, and inconveniences in having theblunted friction-worn edges of knives such as above describedretempered, rehardened, and resharpened.

Having fully described ourinvention, what we claim, and desire to secureby Letters Pat ent, is

1. In scales or weighing apparatus,a platform, a lever and removableball-bearin g connections between the former and the latter, whereby noknife-edge connections or bearings are required, substantially as hereinshown and described.

2. In scales or weighing a )paratus, a combination of a principalplatform, and a main lever both of which are provided with removable orseparable conical cu p-bearings, of a spherical body mounted in saidbearings and forming connections at point of suspension for saidplatform and lever, instead of knifeedge connections for said parts,substantially as described.

3. In scales, the combination of the main or principal platforms, andmain or principal levers, having the removable semispherical concavecups 0r bearings, upon the lower and upper surfaces secured to the saidplatform and lever, respectively, the ball or sphere inclosed withinsaid cups, whereby the use of the knife-edge bearings is unnecessary,substantially as herein shown and described.

4:. In scales the combination of the chief or principal platform andchief or principal lever, provided with semispherical concave cupsorbearings or nearlysemispherical, upon the inner concave surfacesthereof, and secured to the platform and lover, upon the lower and uppersurfaces, respectively, and the ball or sphere, smaller than the circle,described by the inner surfaces of the combined concave cups, wherebythe knife-edge bearings are rendered unnecessary, substantially asherein shown and described.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

ROBERT M. SKILES. CHARLES LEDERER.

Vitnesses to the signature of Robert M. Skiles:

E. S. HILL, 0. W. SAVERY.

lVitnesses to the signature of Charles Led- 01012 MICHAEL SOHAAP, EDWARDA. McCUn.

